1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to transportable or disposable liquid or fluid product dispensers and nozzle assemblies adapted for use with liquid or fluid product sprayers, and more particularly to such sprayers having nozzle assemblies configured for dispensing or generating sprays of selected fluids or liquid products in a desired spray pattern.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Cleaning fluids, hair spray, skin care products and other liquid products are often dispensed from disposable, pressurized or manually actuated sprayers which can generate a roughly conical spray pattern or a straight stream. Some dispensers or sprayers have an orifice cup with a discharge orifice through which product is dispensed or applied by sprayer actuation. For example, the manually actuated sprayer of U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,156 to Dobbs, et al illustrates an improved orifice cup mounted within the discharge passage of a manually actuated hand-held sprayer. The cup is held in place with its cylindrical side wall press fitted within the wall of a circular bore. Dobbs' orifice cup includes “spin mechanics” in the form of a spin chamber and spinning or tangential flows there are formed on the inner surface of the circular base wall of the orifice cup. Upon manual actuation of the sprayer, pressures are developed as the liquid product is forced through a constricted discharge passage and through the spin mechanics before issuing through the discharge orifice in the form of a traditional conical spray. If the liquid product is susceptible to congealing or clogging, the spray is often not consistent and unsatisfactory, especially when first spraying the product, or during “start-up.”
If no spin mechanics are provided or if the spin mechanics feature is immobilized (e.g., due to product clogging), the liquid issues from the discharge orifice in the form of a stream. Typical orifice cups are molded with a cylindrical skirt wall, and an annular retention bead projects radially outwardly of the side of the cup near the front or distal end thereof. The orifice cup is typically force fitted within a cylindrical bore at the terminal end of a discharge passage in tight frictional engagement between the cylindrical side wall of the cup and the cylindrical bore wall. The annular retention bead is designed to project into the confronting cylindrical portion of the pump sprayer body serving to assist in retaining the orifice cup in place within the bore as well as in acting as a seal between the orifice cup and the bore of the discharge passage. The spin mechanics feature is formed on the inner surface of the base of the orifice cup to provide a swirl cup which functions to swirl the fluid or liquid product and break it up into a substantially conical spray pattern.
Manually pumped trigger sprayer of U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,052 to Tiramani, et al illustrates a trigger sprayer having a molded spray cap nozzle with radial slots or grooves which swirl the pressurized liquid to generate an atomized spray from the nozzle's orifice.
Other spray heads or nebulizing nozzles used in connection with disposable, manually actuated sprayers are incorporated into propellant pressurized packages including aerosol dispensers such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,439 to Green and U.S. Pat. No. 7,926,741 to Laidler et al. All of these spray heads or nozzle assemblies include a swirl system or swirl chamber which work with a dispensing orifice via which the fluid is discharged from the dispenser member. The recesses, grooves or channels defining the swirl system co-operate with the nozzle to entrain the dispensed liquid or fluid in a swirling movement before it is discharged through the dispensing orifice. The swirl system is conventionally made up of one or more tangential swirl grooves, troughs, passages or channels opening out into a swirl chamber accurately centered on the dispensing orifice. The swirled, pressurized fluid is swirled and discharged through the dispensing orifice. U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,439 to Green describes a cup-shaped insert with a discharge orifice which fits over a projection having the grooves defined in the projection, so that the swirl cavity is defined between the projection and the cup-shaped insert. These swirl cavities only work when the liquid product flows evenly, however, and if the liquid product is susceptible to congealing or clogging, the spray is often not consistent and unsatisfactory, especially when first spraying the product, or during “start-up.”
All of these nozzle assembly or spray-head structures with swirl chambers are configured to generate substantially conical atomized or nebulized sprays of fluid or liquid in a continuous flow over the entire spray pattern, and droplet sizes are poorly controlled, often generating “fines” or nearly atomized droplets. Other spray patterns (e.g., a narrow oval which is nearly linear) are possible, but the control over the spray's pattern is limited. None of these prior art swirl chamber nozzles can generate an oscillating spray of liquid or provide precise sprayed droplet size control or spray pattern control. There are several consumer products packaged in aerosol sprayers and trigger sprayers where it is desirable to provide customized, precise liquid product spray patterns.
Oscillating fluidic sprays have many advantages over conventional, continuous sprays, and can be configured to generate an oscillating spray of liquid or provide a precise sprayed droplet size control or precisely customized spray pattern for a selected liquid or fluid. The applicants have been approached by liquid product makers who want to provide those advantages, but the prior art fluidic nozzle assemblies have not been configured for incorporation with disposable, manually actuated sprayers.
In applicants' durable and precise prior art fluidic circuit nozzle configurations, a fluidic nozzle is constructed by assembling a planar fluidic circuit or insert in to a weatherproof housing having a cavity that receives and aims the fluidic insert and seals the flow passage. A good example of a fluidic oscillator equipped nozzle assembly as used in the automotive industry is illustrated in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,290 (see, e.g., FIG. 3) which shows how the planar fluidic circuit insert is received within and aimed by the housing.
Fluidic circuit generated sprays could be very useful in disposable, manually actuated sprayers, but adapting the fluidic circuits and fluidic circuit nozzle assemblies of the prior art would cause additional engineering and manufacturing process changes to the currently available disposable, manually actuated sprayers, thus making them too expensive to produce at a commercially reasonable cost. If the liquid product is susceptible to congealing or clogging, the prior art fluidic oscillator configurations would also prove unsatisfactory, especially when first spraying the product, or during “start-up.”
There is a need, therefore, for a commercially reasonable and inexpensive, disposable, manually actuated sprayer or nozzle assembly which overcomes the problems with the prior art, especially for applications where the product is susceptible to congealing or clogging.